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OUR NATIONAL broadcaster faces far graver problems than can be addressed by reducing the salaries of a few star presenters or changing some faces on its popular shows. Like all media organisations, RTÉ now faces a prolonged period of retrenchment, cutbacks and redefinition in the face of a national economic crisis occurring in tandem with a fundamental global shift in the ways in which news and other information are gathered, presented and consumed. RTÉ director general Cathal Goan predicts a € 68 million drop in revenues in 2009, and has proposed a range of swingeing cuts in salaries and services to address the shortfall.

This week’s announcement by the Boxer consortium that it has withdrawn from the contract to provide a digital terrestrial transmission service adds further to the challenge. RTÉ is committed to significant expenditure on the digital rollout, which was planned to take place over the next three years. Whether or not the Government succeeds in persuading one of the other original bidders to take the contract on now (and that is highly debatable), the future is clouded with uncertainty.